Atherton of the ALMS: The series president talks about past problems, future prospects and his boss

By
PETE LYONS

Sep 10, 2003

Fresh factory involvement, additional privateer teams, more events and a series sponsor; it’s a familiar racer’s dream, and in American Le Mans Series circles it has all been heard before. In fact, in its five short, hectic years the ambitious sports car series has suffered some disappointing setbacks, including this season’s abrupt cancellation of two high-profile events. But as he begins his fourth year as ALMS president, Scott Atherton expresses optimism that the dream is coming true at last.

For one thing, he is assured that European automakers, “major household names,” will join the series soon in the GTS class—-and he doesn’t expect to lose any of today’s players. He claims other good news is in the works, including solid additions to next year’s calendar.

Unfortunately, though, both he and series founder Don Panoz say they do not foresee any fresh blood coming in to the headliner LMP class. Audi is developing an all-new car, but is not expected to race it in the absence of direct factory opposition, presently not in the cards. That would leave the current mix of quasi-factory backed Joest and Champion Audi R8s to continue racing high-caliber privateers such as Dyson; in Atherton’s upbeat phrasing, “we have every reason to believe those programs will continue next year as we have enjoyed them this year.”

And Atherton claims other good news in the works, including solid additions to next year’s schedule. Details are not final, partly because of the uncertainty of CART’s affairs, but IMSA hopes to announce the ’04 ALMS calendar at Petit Le Mans in October, as usual.

“I like our positioning,” he declares. “If half of the programs come to fruition that were seriously discussed over the week in Le Mans [in June], we’ll be in very good shape.”

Of course, racers are optimists, and Atherton is indeed a racer. Growing up in the Seattle area, he raced karts and then Formula Fords until graduating from high school. At that point, he realized, “I had lots of ambition, maybe a little talent, but absolutely no money. [I wanted] a career in motorsports, but understood early on that it was not going to be inside the cockpit.”

Armed with a degree in marketing from the University of Washington, Atherton went straight to Domino’s Pizza, where he spent nine years with the company’s CART program. He then moved to Laguna Seca as general manager for five years, before Penske Corp. hired him to run Pennsylvania’s Nazareth Speedway and then the new California Speedway at Fontana. After the Penske tracks were sold to International Speedway Corp., Panoz recruited Atherton in August 2000.

As president and CEO of the Panoz Motorsport Group, Atherton is not only responsible for all operations of the ALMS and its sanctioning body, IMSA, but also the relationship with the ACO/Le Mans officials in France. Also on his day-planner are the Road Atlanta, Sebring and Mosport racetracks, four drivers’ schools, two race-car manufacturing companies, a composites development business and an engine-building service.

“I’ve had some high-pressure jobs with a lot of responsibility before,” he says, “but there’s nothing that compares to this.”

Asked for a report card on how the series is doing overall, Atherton thinks ALMS has grown despite so many obstacles in its path. “The general slowing of the economy to begin with, which was then horrifically fueled by the events of September 11th, the war that followed; a very difficult environment to be growing a business. Especially one that most would consider to be a high-end elective. We’re not a must-have for anybody.

“Yet you’ve seen consistent growth—at a time, not to point fingers, when many other more established series have taken fairly significant steps backward. Look at the general health checkup of the series right now, pick your category: car count, TV ratings, manufacturer involvement, sponsor involvement, spectator counts, quality of the venues, quality of the event organizers; check, check, check—as good or better than at any point in the series’ five-year history.

“I call these the vital factors. They’re things that we track religiously, and if we have been able to maintain and to grow while weathering this storm, imagine what we could do under more favorable circumstances.”

However, the ALMS seems to have trouble keeping a stable calendar. This year’s abrupt loss of the race in Washington, D.C., by all accounts a success in 2002, plus a new round in Mexico City, was embarrassing.

“Yep. Fair and valid comment,” admits Atherton. “My retort to that is, [we’re] playing an aggressive game. A conservative game would be going only to tracks where you can control your destiny. The aggressive game is, you’re a young upstart of a series that has a business model and a business plan that includes going into high-profile marketplaces where your manufacturers want to be, i.e. Washington, D.C., [and] dealing with aggressive event organizers and promoters, i.e. Jerry Forsythe in the Mexico City opportunity. When you are operating in that environment, the rewards are significant and the risks that come with it are also significant.”

He says accountability for losing D.C. and Mexico “lies directly and squarely on my shoulders. That’s part of the risky, deep end of the pool that we’re playing in. We have learned from these developments such that I can assure you that they will not happen again.”

Looking forward, Atherton enumerates several specific goals for the series’ second five years. “A couple of things are clearly top of the list; I can’t say one is more important than another. We want to, and will, add some additional manufacturer involvement. Frankly, we need some new content. I don’t deny that. The good news is, we see where it’s coming from.

“We want to continue with a solid incentive program that will continue to attract top-level privateers. Another [goal] is to confirm—and this must happen before five years is out—a legitimate, proper, name-entitled series sponsor.”

Beyond that, he says, “Our core agreement with Speed Channel will require a renewal between now and five years from now. I would like to see the number of events at 12, from our current nine or 10. Maintaining all the permanent natural-terrain road courses, maintaining the current temporary street circuits, and adding one or two of each variety; that in a nutshell is the five-year plan.

“Hand-in-hand, a continuation of the expansion and quality of the infrastructure that we put behind the series to support all of that. It hasn’t been but a year or two that we’ve had a real in-house staff. Right now we have about 12 people in the ALMS organization, and 12 on the IMSA side. That’s far fewer than what you’ll find in other racing organizations. I’m forever amazed at what we’re able to achieve with the lean machine that we have here.

“[That’s] out of necessity. We’re striving to make this not just a dream and a vision of Don Panoz, but also a viable business.”

Atherton stresses that, while his boss might be a billionaire, the ALMS is no hobby. “Don’s also a very smart businessperson, and any time you have someone who has achieved the level of success he has, the reason is they hold people accountable. Every one of our profit centers is held to a very detailed budget. There’s a detailed business plan that goes along with that budget. If you’re not toeing the line, your days are numbered.

“The one thing that Don has brought to the ALMS and to all of his businesses is a long-range point of view. We’re not expecting that a startup of this nature, and as significant as this is, is going to be profitable out of the gate.”

What about the way Panoz cut back his own P900 race team this year? Is he losing interest?

“You haven’t seen the end of Don Panoz on the racetrack by any means,” asserts Atherton, “and I think you’re going to be very pleasantly surprised to see directionally where he’s headed. I won’t spoil it for you, but Don always has a plan. While it’s true the [Panoz] 900s are going through their final season of active competition, rest assured the pipeline is full.

“Where I see Don pulling back, and it’s completely by design, is in the day-to-day management of the series and the tracks and the schools and Van Diemen and G Force and all the things under the purview of others.

“I think Don will always play an active part. His form of enjoyment is just hard work. He’s a builder and a dreamer. He tells everybody on his staff, ‘Take a few minutes out of each day to dream a little.’ I think he’s the only guy that lives by his own words—every one of us is too busy trying to make those dreams happen.

“When I list the things I have on my plate, it’s an appetizer to what he has on his plate. I’ve worked directly with Tom Monaghan at Domino’s Pizza, Roger and Greg Penske, Jim France, Lisa France, Lisa Kennedy, and I hold everyone that I’ve just named in high esteem, but I’ve never been around anybody that has more diverse, major projects going on than Don Panoz has.

“He’s involved in every category of the sport. It is vertical integration at a level that I don’t think has ever been done before.”

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

This commenting section is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information on their web site.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Autoweek participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.